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200 Puzzling Problems
200 Puzzling Problems
P. Gnadig
E otv os University, Budapest
G. Honyek
Radnoti Grammar School, Budapest
K. F. Riley
Cavendish Laboratory, Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge
publi shed by the press syndi cate of the uni versi ty of cambri dge
The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom
cambri dge uni versi ty press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK
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c
Cambridge University Press 2001
This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press
First published 2001
Reprinted 2002, 2003
Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge
Typeface Monotype Times 10/13 pt System L
a
T
E
X [UPH]
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
Gnadig, P eter, 1947
200 Puzzling Physics Problems / P. Gnadig, G. Honyek, K. F. Riley.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0 521 77306 7 ISBN 0 521 77480 2 (pb.)
1. PhysicsProblems, exercises, etc. I. Title: Two hundred puzzling physics problems.
II. Honyek, G. (Gyula), 1951 III. Riley, K. F. (Kenneth Franklin), 1936 IV. Title.
QC32.G52 2001
530
to the
horizontal. Can the sphere remain in equilibrium on the inclined plane?
P12 A small, elastic ball is dropped vertically onto a long plane inclined
at an angle to the horizontal. Is it true that the distances between con-
secutive bouncing points grow as in an arithmetic progression? Assume that
collisions are perfectly elastic and that air resistance can be neglected.
P13 A small hamster is put into a circular wheel-cage, which has a
frictionless central pivot. A horizontal platform is xed to the wheel below
the pivot. Initially, the hamster is at rest at one end of the platform.
When the platform is released the hamster starts running, but, because of
the hamsters motion, the platform and wheel remain stationary. Determine
how the hamster moves.
P14
How high would the male world-record holder jump (at an indoor
competition!) on the Moon?
P33 A small steel ball B is at rest on the edge of a table of height 1 m.
Another steel ball A, used as the bob of a metre-long simple pendulum,
is released from rest with the pendulum suspension horizontal, and swings
against B as shown in the gure. The masses of the balls are identical and
the collision is elastic.
A
1 m
1 m
B
Considering the motion of B only up until the moment it rst hits the
ground:
(i) Which ball is in motion for the longer time?
(ii) Which ball covers the greater distance?
P34 A small bob is xed to one end of a string of length 50 cm. As a
8 200 Puzzling Physics Problems
consequence of the appropriate forced motion of the other end of the string,
the bob moves in a vertical circle of radius 50 cm with a uniform speed of
3.0 m s
1
. Plot, at 15
be chosen so as to minimise
the time taken?
P36 The minute hand of a church clock is twice as long as the hour
hand. At what time after midnight does the end of the minute hand move
away from the end of the hour hand at the fastest rate?
P37 What is the maximum angle to the horizontal at which a stone can
be thrown and always be moving away from the thrower?
P38
2L
which has the property that it stretches very little when the rope becomes
taut. At time t = 0, A is at rest at x = y = 0 and B is at x = L, y = 0
moving in the positive y-direction with speed V. Determine the positions and
velocities of A and B at times (i) t = 2L/V and (ii) t = 100L/V.
P49
After a tap above an empty rectangular basin has been opened, the
basin lls with water in a time T
1
. After the tap has been closed, opening a
plug-hole at the bottom of the basin empties it in a time T
2
. What happens
if both the tap and the plug-hole are open? What ratio of T
1
/T
2
can cause
the basin to overow? As a specic case, let T
1
= 3 minutes and T
2
= 2
minutes.
P50 A cylindrical vessel of height h and radius a is two-thirds lled with
liquid. It is rotated with constant angular velocity about its axis, which
is vertical. Neglecting any surface tension eects, nd an expression for the
greatest angular velocity of rotation for which the liquid does not spill
over the edge of the vessel.
P51 Peter, who was standing by a racetrack, calculated that as one of
the cars, in accelerating from rest to a speed of 100 km h
1
, used up x litres
of fuel, it could increase its speed to 200 km h
1
, by using a further 3x litres
of fuel. Peter, who has learned in physics that kinetic energy is proportional
to the square of the speed, assumed that the energy content of the fuel
was mainly converted into kinetic energy, i.e. he neglected air resistance and
other types of friction.
A railway runs by the racetrack. Paul, who also knows some physics,
saw the start of the race from the window of a train travelling at a speed
of 100 kmh
1
in the opposite direction to that of the car. He reasoned as
Problems 11
follows: since the cars speed increased from 100 to 200 kmh
1
during the
rst stage, when the car accelerates from 200 to 300 kmh
1
in the second
stage, it will need (300
2
200
2
)/(200
2
100
2
) x = (5/3)x litres of fuel.
Who is right, Peter or Paul?
P52 The distance between a screen and a light source lined up on an
optical bench is 120 cm. When a lens is moved along the line joining them,
sharp images of the source can be obtained at two lens positions; the (linear)
size ratio of these two images is 1 : 9. What is the focal length of the lens?
Which image is the brighter? Determine the ratio of the brightness values
of the two images.
P53 A short-sighted person takes o his glasses and observes a xed
object through them, while moving the glasses away from his eyes. He is
surprised to see that at rst, the object looks smaller and smaller, but then
becomes larger and larger. What is the reason for this?
P54 A glass prism whose cross-section is an isosceles triangle stands with
its (horizontal) base in water; the angles that its two equal sides make with
the base are each .
Water
h h
An incident ray of light, above and parallel to the water surface and
perpendicular to the prisms axis, is internally reected at the glasswater
interface and subsequently re-emerges into the air. Taking the refractive
indices of glass and water to be
3
2
and
4
3
, respectively, show that must be
at least 25.9
.
P55 A glass prism in the shape of a quarter-cylinder lies on a horizontal
table. A uniform, horizontal light beam falls on its vertical plane surface, as
shown in the gure.
Light
R
n
12 200 Puzzling Physics Problems
If the radius of the cylinder is R = 5 cm and the refractive index of the
glass is n = 1.5, where, on the table beyond the cylinder, will a patch of light
be found?
P56 How much brighter is sunlight than moonlight? The albedo (reec-
tivity) of the Moon is = 0.07.
P57 Annie and her very tall boyfriend Andy like jogging together. They
notice that when running they move at more or less the same speed, but
that Andy is always faster when they are walking. How can this dierence
between running and walking be explained using physical arguments?
P58 A simple pendulum and a homogeneous rod pivoted at its end are
released from horizontal positions. What is the ratio of their periods of
swing if their lengths are identical?
F F
P59
How does the solution to the previous problem change if the spider
does not sit in one place, but moves (away from the wall) taking with it the
end of the thread?
P66 Nails are driven horizontally into a vertically placed drawing-board.
As shown in the gure, a small steel ball is dropped from point A and reaches
point B by bouncing elastically on the protruding nails (which are not shown
in the gure).
A
B
2 m
1 m
Is it possible to arrange the nails so that:
(i) The ball gets from point A to point B more quickly than if it had
slid without friction down the shortest path, i.e. along the straight
line AB?
(ii) The ball reaches point B in less than 0.4 s?
P67 One end of a rope is xed to a vertical wall and the other end pulled
by a horizontal force of 20 N. The shape of the exible rope is shown in the
gure. Find its mass.
20 N
Problems 15
P68 Find the angle to which a pair of compasses should be opened
in order to have the pivot as elevated as possible when the compasses are
suspended from a string attached to one of the points, as shown in the gure.
Assume that the lengths of the compass arms are equal.
P69
Threads of lengths h
1
, h
2
and h
3
are fastened to the vertices of a
homogeneous triangular plate of weight W. The other ends of the threads
are fastened to a common point, as shown in the gure.
W
1
h
2
h
h
3
What is the tension in each thread, expressed in terms of the lengths of
the threads and the weight of the plate?
P70
Obtain a reasoned estimate of the time it takes for the sand to run
down through an egg-timer. Use realistic data.
H
d
P77 A small bob joins two light unstretched, identical springs, anchored
at their far ends and arranged along a straight line, as shown in the gure.
m
0 0
F F
The bob is displaced in a direction perpendicular to the line of the springs
by 1 cm and then released. The period of the ensuing vibration of the bob is
2 s. Find the period of the vibration if the bob were displaced by 2 cm before
release. The unstretched length of the springs is
0
1 cm, and gravity is
to be ignored.
18 200 Puzzling Physics Problems
P78